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5 Essential
Weight Loss Foods
By Dr. MaoShing Ni
URL: http://health.yahoo.com/experts/drmao/15737/
5-essential-weight-loss-foods
There are many fad diets
that promise to help you lose weight in almost no time at all.
After two or three weeks on the diet you find yourself losing
enough to be able to brag to your family and friends about it,
and you're so optimistic that this new lifestyle will be your
ticket to a smaller waistline that you start to browse the stores
for new clothes.
You continue to lose
weight for another couple of weeks, and then something happens:
you start to feel sluggish, you begin craving something that
your diet absolutely forbids you to have, or the general sense
of optimism begins to transform itself into a feeling of constriction,
frustration, and even dietary imprisonment.
You decide to have just
one snack, or spend just one day eating whatever you want with
the intention of going back to the diet the following day. What
happens then, is that you feel such satisfaction from that treat
that the entire effort falls apart and you put the weight back
on in practically no time at all.
Does this scenario sound
at all familiar?
Diets are very hard,
as is the feeling of being overweight. Many of these fad diets
may promise instant and significant weight loss results, but
most of them rely on depriving your body of certain nutrients
and disrupting the natural function of your body's metabolism.
Chinese medicine considers obesity to be partly the result of
declining function of the metabolic fire of the kidney network
and a diet that provides a well-balanced array of nutrients
is the key to losing weight in a healthy way. What follows are
five foods that will help you restore your body's ability to
use energy and help you become your healthy weight.
1. Millet:
A well-balanced diet should consist of whole grains instead
of refined grains like white rice and pasta, and millet is a
beneficial and delicious staple of this category of food. This
non-glutinous grain is over 10-percent protein, has high amounts
of fiber and B-complex vitamins, and because it isn't an acid
forming food, is easy to digest.
2. Asparagus:
When losing weight, it's important to favor chlorophyll-rich
foods, including asparagus. Asparagus is a nutrient-rich vegetable
packed with folate, vitamins A, C, and K, and fiber. Asparagus
also contains a carbohydrate known as inulin (not to be confused
with insulin) that promotes healthy bacteria in the large intestine
- which in turn promotes a healthier digestive function.
